Bellator announces 'Vote for the Fight' series to choose first bout on Spike TV debut

Bellator next week will debut an interactive feature that will allow fans to pick the first fight on the promotion’s debut on Spike TV.

The promotion on Friday announced “Vote for the Fight” during the MTV2 broadcast of Bellator 79, which took place at Canada’s Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario.

Bellator events currently air Fridays on MTV2 through the remainder of Season 7, but will move to Spike TV starting in January 2013.

“Vote for the Fight” is a “web series” that premieres Thursday at Spike.com. It will follow four of the promotion’s top welterweights, and fans then can vote for the fight they want to see in the Season 8 premiere’s opening fight in January. Paul Daley, Ben Saunders, Douglas Lima and Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver are the four fighters profiled in the web series and on the ballot.

According to promotion for the series, the behind-the-scenes profiles of the four fighters will follow “their home lives, their training – everything they do to get mentally and physically prepared for the fight that (the fans) will vote for.”

Daley (30-12-2), a UFC and Strikeforce veteran, won his Bellator debut in July in dominant fashion, stopping Rudy Bears with a first-round knockout. The Brit was thought to be fighting again this fall, but instead will be on hold until Season 8 begins.

Saunders (14-5-2 MMA, 5-2 BFC) came up short against Lima in the Season 5 welterweight tournament finals, then lost to Bryan Baker in the Season 6 semifinals. He stopped Brian Warren in just 22 seconds in July, though, and hopes to finally get an elusive tournament crown.

Lima (22-5 MMA, 4-1 BFC) is coming off a dominant Friday night win over Jacob Ortiz at Bellator 79, which got him back in the win column after a welterweight title loss to champ Ben Askren this past April. Now he’ll have to fight his way back through another tournament if he wants another shot at the belt.

War Machine (12-4 MMA, 0-0 BFC) earlier this week was released from prison early after starting a yearlong sentence in February. The fighter has a storied background of legal troubles and arrests, as well as a brief career in pornography. But all 12 of his wins are by stoppage, and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has said he remains hopeful that the fighter has turned the corner on his life outside the cage.

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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